May 2, 2010

Bloomington, IN

Bloomington, Indiana is a little oasis of liberal thinking, whole-grain eating, co-opish people. Walking around this place is taking in human beings as they probably "should" look - hale and fit, quick-witted, open, not too attached to stuff...more attached to humans. I like it.

At the weekend farmer's market, we were the admirers of various performances. Above, were the old-time bluegrass singers...handsome young men, with twangy sounds.

Next were the May Day performers, all dressed comically in white. They took themselves very seriously in a way that reminded me of Corky Sinclair & Waiting for Guffman. This was a much-practiced May Day dance.

And here is the dancing macaw. He was so inspired by his governor's harmonica playing and singing that he would bop and sway along. I was so inspired that I got very close to capture his photo and he beaked my camera - a quick thrust of his neck to let me know I was making him fitful. I was concerned about the lens, but he missed, thankfully. (Thankfully, because Xavier bought me a new camera - and I will advertise because I am so thrilled: it is a Canon S90, on the recommendation of a good friend/photographer. Have a look at it - little, yet big (it is a compact camera, but you can easily control aperture, shutter speed, focus, zoom, white balance, exposure compensation, or ISO and you can shoot in RAW and JPG)).

Back to the bird. It was one of those carnival-y moments where you wonder what a guy with a harmonica in a farmer's market is doing with a swaggering bird. You have, of course, seen the dancing cockatoo to Backstreet Boys. Along the same lines...

Cool bird. Gotta watch them, though. I had a "The Birds" incident with a pair of swallows. Not pretty. Even worse -- birds have good memories if they think you have threatened them or their babies -- however inadvertently!